Kirov Square, Ust-Kut Live Cam

Kirov Square sits in the middle of Ust-Kut, a long thin town strung out along the Lena River in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. In winter the square is flooded and lit for skating, which is what the webcam usually shows.

The town exists because of the river. Osetrovo, its port, stands at the head of navigation on the Lena: cargo bound for Yakutia arrives here by rail and leaves by barge, and for a few months a year this is the only practical route north.

The Baikal–Amur Mainline runs through the town, and construction of its eastern section began from here in 1974. Frost holds from October into April, so the snow banked around the square in the picture lasts most of the year.